Immigration Contracts: AU

In Australia, G4S has been one of the main contractors operating immigration detention centers for individuals who have been refused entry to the country or have violated terms of their visas. Australian immigration law requires that these people be detained while their claims to stay in the country are considered.

G4S operated the offshore Manus Island Detention Center in Papua New Guinea which held 1,332 detainees. An Australian officer described the Center as a “horrendous chicken pen” where guards regularly had to cut down detainees who were attempting to hang themselves. Whistleblowers blamed the Centers’ problems on poor management by G4S and massive turnover of staff.

In February 2014, riots took place at the Detention Center and Reza Barati, an Iranian asylum seeker was killed. Australia’s Human Rights Center conducted an inquiry into the riots. Rachel Ball, director of advocacy at the Human Rights Center said, “In February this year, G4S guards at the detention facility on Manus Island went on what can only be described as a rampage. Reza Berati was killed, one man lost his eye, another had his throat slit, and 77 others were treated for serious injuries including broken bones and lacerations. G4S was directly involved in this violence through its role in arbitrary detention and poor conditions that led to the unrest, and through the direct participation of its employees in the violence.” Soon after the riot, the Australian government announced that G4S would lose its contract to provide security at the detention center.

SOURCE: BLOOMBERG BUSINESS G4S Plc, the world’s biggest provider of security services, lost an Australian government contractnth to provide security and welfare services at the offshore detention center at Manus Island in Papua New Guinea, according to Immigration Minister Scott Morrison for an asylum seekers detention center after an investigation found deficient safety arrangements. – […]

SOURCE: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS TIMES According to a security guard, the Iranian asylum seeker killed in a violent jail-break at the Australian Manus Island detention camp was killed by a guard working for the security contractor G4S. The account, obtained by News Corp, suggests that during a riot, local guards jumped on Reza Barati’s head in […]

SOURCE: GUARDIAN G4S, the former security contractor at the Manus Island detention centre was directly responsible for violence that broke out in February and in which Iranian asylum seeker Reza Barati was killed, according to a formal complaint lodged with the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD). The complaint, written by the Human Rights Law Centre, claims […]